Are vegan and vegetarian diets really healthy?

Yes I agree, there are three types of teeth in our oral cavity: incisors (to bite, cut), canines (to rip, tear), and molars (to grind). We use all these kinds of teeth because evidence suggests that we have been eating both plants and animals since the dawn of our civilization. Carnivores would have more canine teeth because they rip and tear more often, and herbivores better developed molars because they chew plants. Other differences between herbivores and carnivores is the amount of digestive enzymes in the system. Herbivores have more amylase enzyme in saliva because it is responsible for breaking down carbohydrates, which is not often found in meat. On the other hand, carnivores have more protein- and fats-digesting enzymes such as lipase, pepsinogen, and trysin. Carnivores also have more gastric juice in stomach.

I agree for the most part. And the expansion of diet and the introduction of meat played a tremendous part in our evolution. According to archeological evidence, it supplies the important proteins to our brains, allowing us to develop all kinds of abilities including speech and creativity.

 

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I recently (6 months or so) eat as little meat as possible because I don't like the taste of it. My body rejects it in a sort of a way.
Don't eat any poultry since the age of 4
I don't have any big moral reasoning behind my not eating, I just can't get it in.
some meat products are an exception though, like steak and shaslik
so I'm a sort of a half vegetarian, but I hate when someone says that I don't eat meat because I probably hug sheep

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my original question for the vegetarians here: how long can I not eat meat and live on my B vitamin supplies.. I mean - how frequently I should eat meat if I want to get my *meat* vitamins from it, not some bacteria or pills.

 

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You dont ever have to eat meat to get vitamin b. if you are really that concerned, you can eat fortified certials. Also most b vitamins are found in certain plants. As i said before you can survive a long time without it, because you have stores of it in your body. Although i am no health expert, you shouldn't really be concerned. The national health institue, http://www.cc.nih.gov/ provides good information. Go there to learn more. I am a vegetarian, and i am not concerned because i eat a veriety of things. Do that and you will be fine.

 

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ok, thanx!, I'll have a look
but I'll probably still stick to a few meat meals a month
I believe that nature knew what it was doing when we evolved to be omnivores, not herbivores, no matter what current dietologists say

 

I love sushi, I'm not a fan of beef tar tar (raw hamburger essentially) but many people are. It's less true in modern north america but there's quite a few examples of eating raw meat. I'm no anthropologist so I'm guessing but I suspect we ate meat raw at first and learned to cook it later. It allows us to keep it longer without spoiling since refridgeration was impossible.

And then there are grains, rice, wheat etc. They're very hard to consume without considerable preparation, in otherwords unlike horses or deer for example, just ripping it off the stalk and chewing it doesn't work for out systems much better than raw meat does.

that was kind of my point, we're neither carnivors nor herbivors. Like bears and pigs we're both. I'm not against the notion of vegitarianism in any way, I'm just saying we aren't designed like cows or deer (sorry for repeating myself but this is what it comes down to for me). They have very complex stomachs built around the digestion of plants our stomachs aren't nearly as good at it, much of the plant matter we eat leaves our body the way it came in, nearly intact and undigested.

Evolution doesn't usually screw around, we (from my limited understanding of this subject) are designed specifically to be omnivores.

 

Just because we have been eating plants and meat as omnivores for millions of years does not mean we need to continue doing so.

Wait are we talking about cobalamin (vitamin B12) we only need about 3micrograms of that stuff a day, our livers usually hold storage of it to last years! Only during old age and defective livers or GI track does deficiency become a problem. But most of all it does not come from meat but from the bacteria that grows in herbivores guts. Just cut meat out of the cycle and grow cobalamin producing bacteria separately or better yet engineer people to produce their own cobalamin. Heck why don’t we add cellulase and chitinase enzymes producing ability in there so we can all eat grass and insects as a happy diet.

 

Avatar,
To expand. if you are only a vegetarian, you can get some B12 from eggs and daily products. So no need to worry.
SwedishFish,
I am open to reason on PETA. If you can give me any real reason to doubt them, then i will listen. But until then i will have to beleive them, because they appear to be a very well meaning organisation that does great works.

 

Jack Quack is quite correct on a lot of things, including the diet stuff. You can actually be a healthy vegan as well.
I disagree with the PETA thing. They claim beer is healthier and more nutritious than milk, which is a total lie (UPenn paper 2002.) They also make a lot of other claims about dairy products in general at www.milksucks.com. They try to back it up with scientific, peer reviewed literature, but I personally reviewed (in 2002,) what they had to say and not one document backed up their claims, not one. Further, PETA supports organic farming and alternative medicine, all of which although full of uncritical well meaning supporters, is a bad thing because they are not what they appear to be (they do not work nor are they good for the environment.) A good example is the film Legally Blonde 2, a PETA propaganda film where they depict scientists as dull, poorly dressed delusional people. The entire refutaiton to the premise of the movie was a characature of the NIH president saying, briefly there are no alternatives to animal testing. The rest of thefilm then goes on to sow how you can bypass democratic processes to force animal rights on the public. Yeah, good message (if you do not believe me then see the special features where the film makers admit this is a loaded film.) But if my kid is dying of a disease for which a few hundred rats have to die, well, goodbye rats. PETA disagrees. The leader of PETA is going to have some of her body parts shipped to the EPA, and have her meat BBQ'd. Does any of this sound rational, or good for society?

 

i dont get on with with vegans, simply because i hgad this vegan girlfriend once and there was something like i couldnt bang her too hard coz her bones were weak. stupid calcium, she was well hot.

 

Ya allot of the vegans I know are really skinny and pal! I don’t know if it is what they eat or how they eat it. In theory we could someday engineer plants the fruit meat, taste like chicken! Problem over.

 

Yes there are unhealthy vegans, but there are unhealthy meat eaters as well. It all demends on what you eat. Like come on be logical. Not every vegan is going to be healthy. Most are healthy, but some of course will not be, because they wont eat right. Just be sure to eat a veriety and you will be fine, just like if you were a meat eater.

 

hehe, that sounds like my mom. she tried to convince me that all vegans are skinny, pale, and sickly. one look at me and you'll change your mind. not skinny, nor sickly. in fact i stopped getting sick altogether when i cut out animal products (except right now because i've been broke and not eating much)

 

Quasi,
If any of this is true about PETA, then that is some seriously disturbing shit. But yes they are biased, and are going to make outrageous statements, and blow up statistic, the same way politicians do. They are just doing what any industry will do. Aside from some far-fetched tales, they still do good work, bringing down animal abusers. That is the real thing about them. They get great information, and tell the public what is really going on with evil corporations like IAMS. And you don’t just have to take their word on it. They have several films on the subject. And not just IAMS. I became a vegetarian from watching one of their movies on animal abuse in meat packing industry, slaughterhouses, and on farms. The treatment of some of the animals raised for our consumption, it is gruesome. I can't even watch the movie again. That is the reason i support them, because they show you what happens to your food.

 

ya and of course all the meat eating hunters I know a realy fat and ugly.

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the ones i know are

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Jack_Quack, no offense, but don't you think that the views of PETA can be biased too? They are an organization that oppose any animal mistreatments, and I totally support that, and oppose animal abuse (of course, I don't think having an appropriate amount of meat in our diet should be classified as animal abuse). However, they cannot avoid biased remarks in their videos, stats, and articles, and whatever they have published. They have a purpose and they will to do everything to get you to believe in them. They could have taken minor but graphic examples of animal mistreatments, and accumulated them together to cause more sympathy and make it more convincing - I am not saying this is what happens, but it's a possibility. It's like one of those documentary films about Africa's animal kingdom. They sometimes give you the wrong impression of certain issues that could be nowhere near the actual reality (like how media is talking about the situations in iraq) Some biased sources do not reflect the reality, but only selectively reveal part of the reality. I admit that there are certain people on this planet who are cruel enough to abuse animals, but I think that these people are still in the minority. Assuming that this is true, it is very possible that PETA ignores the majority of people who are non-abusive to animals, and only focuses on these rare animal-abusing people, magnifying them so the organization can attract more attention (this is speculation only).
Of course, I am not saying to ignore everything PETA says, but pay more close attention to objective perspectives. Because there is only one direct purpose of whatever video or statistics from the PETA organization, and that is to convince you that they are right, to make you believe in them.
So be careful when analyzing and taking in info from external sources, make sure they are supported by solid evidence and are relatively objective.

 

eddymrsci,
I already said PETA is biased. Yes PETA is going to ignore the majority, but they are trying to fix the manority and not give props to the majority, that would have no point. THey are trying to fix the minority, show you the minority, and identify the minority.

 

and magnify the minority
thus giving the public the wrong impressions, and not reflecting reality

 

i think it's understood that they are biased and that's expected. but they go beyond that to be utterly ridiculous. they lie, exaggerate, distort facts. besides that, they do some damn stupid and often illegal things. petitions to change the names of towns(offering unlimited supply of veggie burgers if the town of hamburg changes their name to veggieburg???) doesn't harm anyone but it is retarded and only serves to make opponents roll their eyes. peta loses credibility, ultimately hurting their cause. illegal activities such as destroying property and committing violent acts just sinks them into the hole further. lost credibity + criminal acts = who the fuck do these terrorist crazies think they are? no wonder people think vegans are nutjobs! they make it hard for legitimate vegans and vegetarians. the challenges put up in this very thread countering peta-esque logic are an example of how they hurt the movement. we have to constantly prove we're not crazy, defend our lifestyle, and beg and plead restaurants/grocery stores etc. to offer more veg. options- at least 1 in some cases.

 

yes I agree, it's very possible that they exaggerate the minority and distort the real reality for their own purposes